Juvenile Court Judge Wants To Stay On Job

June 21, 1999|By TIM COLLIE Staff Writer

When Judge Ronald Alvarez first expressed interest in juvenile court, his colleagues on the bench all had the same reaction: Are you crazy?

"They said the same thing: The kids are out of control, there's so much bureaucracy, nobody really knows what's going on, I heard all of that," said Alvarez, who has served in the juvenile division of the Palm Beach County Circuit Court for three years.

"I may be wrong, but I don't think the judges are exactly lining up to work the juvenile division."

But if all goes according to schedule, Alvarez will be rotated out of the juvenile division and back to adult court in January after four years. He doesn't want to leave, and a group of local attorneys who specialize in family law is organizing a letter-writing campaign to keep him in the juvenile division.

The letters are being sent to Chief Judge Walter N. Colbath, who will make the final decision. Alvarez says he has made his desire to stay put known to Colbath, but that the judge has told him the rotation will proceed.

Others, meanwhile, are hoping Colbath can be swayed by the argument that Alvarez has developed a rare expertise in juvenile and family law that should not be squandered.

"Not many attorneys or judges have had the opportunity to practice in the juvenile arena and therefore have not experienced working with the multitude of agencies and issues that come before the court in these matters," reads one letter written by a group of attorneys at the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County Inc.

Alvarez "is well respected for his commanding knowledge of the juvenile system and is able to make rulings that can positively offer the most advantageous services to any child for either their protection or their rehabilitation," the letter continues. Colbath was on vacation and could not be reached for comment.

Presiding over juvenile cases is considered one of the most demanding positions in law by many attorneys because of the complexity of the cases and the sheer size of the caseload in Florida. Unlike adult cases, which usually have no more than two competing parties, juvenile cases often include a variety of state agencies representing various interests of a child.

There is the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Department of Children & Families. Within each are sub-agencies dealing with drug abuse and mental illness. There are local school systems and in some cases, even federal agencies.

"I see very good lawyers come into juvenile court and just get lost," said John Walsh, one of the co-authors of the Legal Aid letter. "You have everyone talking at once. You'll have seven or eight different parties sitting around the table with the judge trying to sort it all out.

"Attorneys specialize -- they don't move from one type of law to another," Walsh added. "You don't see doctors attempting every type of procedure. I don't see why judges are expected to preside in different types of cases."

The rotation of judges in and out of juvenile divisions has been a standard practice in Florida, though it varies widely from circuit to circuit. Some circuits, like that for Polk County, have a strict rule of rotating judges every three years. Others, like Broward County's, have let judges stay in the juvenile division for a decade or more.

In Broward County, Judge Kathleen Kearney, who was appointed head of the Department of Children & Families, developed a widely praised expertise in family law by spending a decade in the juvenile division. Broward County's juvenile courts have been overwhelmed with the loss of Kearney as well as Judge Arthur Birken, another longtime juvenile judge who was shifted out because of stress connected to 80-hour work weeks handling family cases.

There are no legal rules that mandate judicial rotation. The practice stems in part from a 1991 Florida Supreme Court review that suggested that judges may benefit from being rotated through family courts for several years. Other states, like Kentucky, require their judges to run for election to the specific divisions.

"It's not a mandate," said Patricia Badland, a Florida state court administrator who participated in the discussions surrounding the 1991 review. "Chief judges have broad discretion on rotating judges in and out of family courts. Some judges really love it. They thrive in juvenile courts. Others don't like it."

There's no question where Alvarez stands. After three years, he thinks he is just hitting his stride in juvenile cases.

"It takes a juvenile judge about two years to figure out what is going on with the juvenile justice system in Florida," Alvarez said. "How the bureaucracy works. Who makes the decisions about a child's situation. Who knows what they're doing and who doesn't.

"By the time a judge finally understands what's going on, by the time they feel they know enough to determine what's best for a child, it's time for them to leave," he said. "I'm not sure what the original thinking was behind the idea of rotating judges. I guess they just like to rotate judges. It's sort of like rotating tires, I suppose you could say."

Staff Writer Tim Collie can be reached at tcollie@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6624.